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Abstract:
Abstract: We investigated the effect of aging on source
memory for objects experienced in one of four encoding tasks
(perform, watch, imagine, estimate cost of object). Encoding task
influenced ERPs in the elderly similarly to those in the young,
albeit with smaller, later, and somewhat less distinct effects. At
the same time, source judgements were overall less accurate in the
elderly compared to young (reported in Senkfor, Van Petten &
Kutas 1999). Most striking were qualitative differences in the ERPs
elicited by the young and elderly. Instead of a large
fronto-central negativity (200-800 ms) that characterized young
ERPs, the elderly showed a large slow positivity (400-1400 ms). As
a similar positivity has been linked to source retrieval, it
appears as if the elderly adopt a different strategy than the young
of immediately attempting to retrieve source information, albeit
with moderate success. Prior studies of the effect of normal aging
on source memory have found smaller (source-related) frontal
positivities in the elderly and no large differences in ERP
morphology (e.g. Senkfor & Van Petten, 1996; Trott et al, 1997)
as we see here implicating some aspect of the source task demands
in the observed pattern.
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